Adventure 724: Lyons and Campbell Ranch Headquarters/Post B

I'm starting a new book about the band The Drive by Truckers titled Where the Devil don't Stay. The opening line says, "The present is bleak and next few months are only dimly promising..." Not so for us. We awoke to a quite cool morning splashed with bright sunshine. After breakfast, we drove thirty-five miles to the Catwalk Trail, which has a very large WOW! factor. Originally, mining engineers drove steel i-beams into the sheer rock to hold a gravity fed twelve inch water line that powered the generator that powered the machine that processed the ore from the mine. Now, the National Forest has refurbished the catwalk to hold humans that climb their way up the canyon over the top of the Gila River. While stunning, it really wasn't much exercise, so on the way home we turned off the main road onto a hiking trail. We walked up a road along a ridge for awhile, and later this week we'll return there for a longer hike. We stopped at the Duck Creek for a burger, which was as good as advertised. After returning to the ranch, we lounged the rest of the day away. Liz read and napped. Judy knitted. I bent some wire. We had dinner, watched BYU lose to San Francisco, and readied ourselves for bed. Nothing about our current lives is bleak, and while we believe no promise is made for tomorrow, we're happy that life is good, especially today.

The Catwalk Trail welcomes us with a stand of quite beautiful Arizona Sycamores.

New Mexico is beef country.

The Wiley Cager pulling some of her maneuvers in the three way game at lunch.

Unable to remove the pollution of the mining pipeline, the government decided to up the ante.

Luckiest guy on the planet.

Selfie of the day.

Wow!

The view on our after hike.

Be there in a minute.

Creek crossing babes.

 The pipeline really was quite the feat of engineering. 

Adventure 723: Lyons and Campbell Ranch Headquarters/Post A

On the advice of a strong wind warning, we left Bisbee at seven thirty. The warning proved accurate as we made it to the ranch headquarters just ahead of a howling, gusty wind that stirred up a dust storm just to our rear. We met our host, Alex, and his large Newfoundland dogs, hooked up, and basically hunkered down for the afternoon. I did go out twice to re-latch the iron gates that the wind forced open. The ranch in its hey day had a herd of cattle totaling over 60,000 on a spread of a million acres. Alex, and his family have owned eight of those acres including the headquarters for the last sixty years. Alex himself has been here for thirty-five. The place bustles with "Old West" history, and I'm eager to hear Alex tell us more. Tomorrow, we'll begin our outdoor adventures in the Gila National Forest, which is the real reason we're here. Our hikes will take on a wildly different flavor, certainly wild in a different way than scaling the scarred remains of Old Bisbee, and also quite different that sauntering among the saguaros of the Sonoran desert. I'm reminded of the variance of beauty, beauty that's not just in the eye of the beholder, but beauty and diversity that's born in the eye of the creator. Thought of the day: celebrate the beauty of diversity because wonder beams from every eye. And thank you, Lord, once again for traveling mercies, especially the near miss we had this morning when I drove straight from a turn left lane. The shrill honk of the offended driver shook my awareness back to the present. Sometimes it's good just to be lucky, and on that note I'm lucky enough to say, Life is good, especially today.

We've circled our wagons in sites one and two.

Stay tuned for some heavy drinking, some piano tinkling, and a few wild roulette spins.

Our trusty steed, Fric, sidled up next to the saloon.

Not really sure what this building is. Alex will take us on a tour of the headquarters sometime later.

This little angel stands on guard in the prairie.

At its height, the ranch had six chuckwagons feeding the cowboys. This is the inside of one of them.

A parting shot from Bisbee: Captain White Bone says, "Arrgh, Mateys! Shiver me timbers, you anchor clanking, deck swabbing oyster eyed, scurvy pack of sea dogs. Hoist sails and let's be off to the furthest reaches."

Adventure 722: Bisbee Two/Post E

Frac to the past.

Deb had us dancing.

Some of the thousand.

Deb had us twirling, too.

Some of the thousand.

Attic dwelling. Un refurbished. Ten years ago Bisbee had one Air B&B. Today, there are 170. More to come.

Ed sauntering down some of the thousand.

Deb had herself dancing, too. "When will we have another chance?" she says as she  slips Carlos Santana's  'You got to change your evils ways' into the CD player.

Good night, Bisbee. Beyond the sunlight lies Mexico,  so Buenos noches, Mexicanos .

Garage art.

Some of the thousand.

One of my dreams.

My dance partners. Truth be known, I don't really dance, I mostly sway.

Good bye, Bisbee. It's been grand. We spent another wonderful day with friends wandering the steps of Bisbee. We walked all but one of the staircases on the thousand step race route. Can't imagine running. We strolled, sauntered, and schlepped our way about town. But why worry? We're retired. We're fortunate. We're able. So we chatted up some locals, or rather Deb and Ed did. That was a fun chat. They've lived in Bisbee for twenty years. 2002 seems like not that long ago. I'm keep myself, "Where did those decades go?" Bye and bye as the poet says. In the meantime, life is good, especially today.

 

Adventure 721: Bisbee Two/Post D

Today was filled with highs and lows. After breakfast, we climbed a few more of Bisbee's staircases and then scaled a shale filled rocky trail to the White Cross shrine that overlooks Old Bisbee. The walk felt good, and if we spent much time in Bisbee just walking around, our legs and lungs would surely benefit. After our hike, we decided to check on Bisbee's suburbs, which I must say offer little in the way of charm with the exception of the very quaint and unique Shady Dell Resort. It has quite a bit of charm, and for the eclectically adventurous, it's a resting spot to be considered. The low point of our day was a visit to Trump's wall, which I consider not just a stain on America, but a severe measure of harm done to humanity. Sadly, I acknowledge that we live in a world of alternative facts, but according to data compiled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, the numbers are these. As of October 16, 2020, 16 miles of new barriers were built where none existed before; 170 miles of fencing were built as vehicle barriers only, meaning they wouldn't stop foot traffic; 135 miles replaced existing fencing. That totals to 321 miles of the 2000 mile border. The current cost totals 15 BILLION, seventy percent of which was not authorized by Congress. Mr. Trump used a declaration of emergency to reallocate funds from the defense budget. I felt saddened viewing the wall in much the same way I felt saddened when I first saw the wall in El Paso in 2012. I think maybe we should scrub the inscription off the Statue of Liberty, or perhaps we should rethink our illusory American Exceptionalism. But that is a cynical view. I understand anger, but I refuse to sink into cynicism. Rather, maybe we should start living up to the ideals we pretend to hold dear. Whoops. Judy will say I'm ranting so I will stop now, because our good friend Liz just arrived which makes life good, especially today.

The Shady Dell has about twenty-five vintage trailers for rent, including this yacht. Each trailer has a vintage record player and records that accompany the theme of the trailer.

This record is recordings by the Rat Pack of Las Vegas fame.

This was the epitome of luxury travel trailering in the 1950s.

Being it's Ash Wednesday, we thought it appropriate to pay a visit to this guy.

I pray every day that God has some plan that I as a mere human am too dim to understand. I merely take life on Faith.

Big, beautiful (Eye of the Beholder) wall-all sixteen miles of it.

The Shady Dell made me smile; I needed it after a visit to the border.

The view of Old Bisbee from the White Cross.

The Yacht.

Really?

Really what it's all about.

Adventure 720: Bisbee Two/Post C

Walked over for coffee and oatmeal at the Drouin's Air B&B. Relaxed for a while afterwards. We are seniors after all. Then we took a midmorning walk around the old town of Bisbee. We climbed four of the nine staircases totaling 526 steps. That's just over 50% of the 1,000 if any one is counting. Bisbee has the annual Bisbee1000 the third week of October if you care to come join the fun. It's a race, so start training now. After our walk, we retired to our personal abodes for more rest, and for Ed, a siesta. We'll meet up again for dinner at the local Vietnamese noodle house. We heard from Liz that she's overnighting another night in Palm Springs, so we won't see her until tomorrow evening. That's just about all the adventure we've enjoyed so far today. The best part besides wandering aimlessly with good friends, is enjoying the eclectic art and the general ambience of this town. It's quite amazing to see it remake itself after the big money pulled out. If you think about the arc of the town, it's the perfect example of why hope will never die. Even though Bisbee was born because of the growth imperative our system of capitalism, unsustainable as it is, those with the money saw wealth when they pictured the abstraction of copper, silver, and gold ore coming out of the ground. Their eyes reflected dollar signs. They began extracting every bit of the ore leaving behind depletion and pollution. When the ore ran out, so did the money men. They left the place derelict until the place was  rediscovered by the back to the earth hippies of the seventies. Now the place has become hip, and the ore now comes out of the pockets of tourist in the form of cash and credit cards. So it goes that from discarded rubble new fortunes are made. It just goes to show that regardless of the events, life is good, especially today.

One of the Bisbee's you see all around town.

This is Pamela, who lives at the top of the Castle Rock staircase. Love the gate.

Well done murals are splashed on many of the Bisbee buildings.

Grandma warned me about this.

Deb and Ed's recently remodeled and nicely appointed Air B&B.

It's all how you view the world.

Selfie of the day. Lunch at the Le Cafe Cornucopia.

My half of a splendid meatloaf sandwich. 

This should be a main goal.

It's a steep climb.